Luggage, including garment supporting means for long and short garments



March 13, 1951 B. PLATT 2,545,211

LUGGAGE, INCLUDING GARMENT SUPPORTING MEANS FOR LONG AND SHORT GARMENTS Filed May 28, 1945 Patented Mar. 13, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT FICE LUGGAGE, INCLUDING GARMENT SUPPGET-V ING MEANS FOR LONG AND snonrr Gna- MENTS Benjamin P'la tt, Chicago, Ill-., assignor,,by'ii1esne assignments, to Platt. Luggage, Inc Ghi'c'ago, 111;, a'corp'oration 'of Illinois Application Maya28, 1945,;SerialgNo.596,194:

3 Claims. 7 :1

The present invention relates to luggage and more particularly to ladies wardrobe cases.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a new and improved ladys wardrobe case characterized particularly in that the case is provided with hangers constructed and arranged to receive both long and short garments and further in that the hanger receiving the-shorter garments is 'detae-hably secured to a dress bar rack which is, in turn, detachably'secured to a skirt folding rack.

Ladies wardrobe cases -as presently manufactured have what is commonly called a skirt folding rack. This rack-is pivotally secured to the interior of the case near the hinged parts of the case, preferably to the lid, and its free end may be detachably secured to the lid by suitable latching means. The cases also include front edge of the lid and a dress bar rack de- .ta'chably secured to the skirt folding rack. In

use; the garments are placed upon the hangers and the hangers are placed upon the support (with the case open) and with the skirtfolding rack released from the lid and occupying a horizontal position. The dress bar rack is then placed in position to hold the intermediate portions of the garments near the hinged connection and so that the unattached portions of the garment extend beyond the free end of the skirt folding rack. Thereafter the. skirt folding rack is lifted upwardly so as to lie substantially within the lid Where it is held by the latching means.

The difficulty with the present constructions is that they are notv suited for holding shorter garments such as skirts or slacks and the like.

If the latter are placed upon the garment hangers then the unattached ends do not extendbeyond the free end of the skirt folding rack, with the result that the. garments are not properly held 7 in place when the rack is lifted.

The present. invention contemplates the attachment of hangers to the dress bar rack so that when garments are placed upon the hanger they extend beyond the free end of the. skirt folding rack so that when the latter is lifted and secured to the lid, the garments are securely and properly held in place. It is preferred that the hangers be detachably secured to the bar rack.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description of an embodiment thereof, in the course of which reference is had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is aperspective view of, a case embody'in'g' the present invention, the case being shown in its open position;

Figure 2' is an enlarged fragmentary elevat'iojn'al View illustrating the connection of a hanger to the dress bar rack, and

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary crossyseetional view through the hinged end ofthe ease.

Referring now to the drawing an'dmore particularly to Figure 1, it may be noted that a 'l'adys wardrobe case is indicated as a whole by "the reference character in. 'It consists of what "may for convenience be termed a bottomrsejction ean-d a top or lid section M' which sections are hingedly connected rogetherby suitable means such as'tne hinges I 6"illus'tratedbest in Figure 3. The two sectionsare 'also interconnected by bars or links l8 and which limit the movement "of the lid relative to the bottom and 'iinpositively maintain the "lid in its generallyverticjal open position asillustrated in Figures I and 3 The "case includes means for supporting "one or more hangers 22 at theinside-of the top (or front) edge M -"of the lid. This means is illustrated as "taking the form {of a bracket 26 secured-tothe lid sotlralt theportioh parallel to the edge 2 4 isspaeed aslight distance therefrom to enable the hangers readily to 'be mounted on the bracket. These na'n'ger's,.1it1 nraybe mentioned. are used to hang-longer garments.

The caseal'soincludesla skirt folding rack indicated as :awhole by reference charaeter 28 and. which may :be. of. conventional construction.

It is pivotally securedipreferably to. the lid,.near

the-hinge connection. Initheinstantiembodiment the two side frame. members 3 ll; of the rack are pivotally secured-to. brackets 32 fixedly secured to the side edges 34 oithe lid. The side frames of the skirt folding rack are interconnected by a pair of crosssupportstfi and a pivotally mounted two position cross piece 38 whereby the efiective length of the-rack may :be changed.

The case includes alsoadressbar rack .40 detachably secured'in :a pair of spring-likearms 42 extending generally at right angles from and fixedly securedto the f rame members When the spring armsare Spread-apart from thepositions in which they are shown-in Fig. 1, the dress bar rackA-U is released and may be removed.

According'to thepresent invention-cheer more hangers 42. are. secured, and preferably detachably. to they dress bar rack 40; The -securing means may take. various forms, but as --illustrated it comprises a metal strap 4.4 closely surroundin andy-fixedly securedatoi the :bar rack. The ends 46 of the strap are extended and secured together by some suitable means such as the rivets 48. The hanger is detachably secured to the strap by a fastener 56 of the turn button type, preferably secured to the extensions 46 of strap 44 by the rivets 48. The hanger is provided with a flat and relatively thin strap 52 having an aperture 54 cooperating with the fastener. When the turn button of the fastener is in one position the hanger may be placed over the fastener and when the turn button is moved to another position (the one best illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2) the hanger is secured to the dress bar rack. However, it should be understood that other means for detachably securing the hangers 42 to the dress bar rack may be used.

The skirt folding rack 28 is movable so that it lies substantially in or close to the lid whereat it is held by suitable releasable catches 56, see Fig. 1.

Assuming that the lid is closed, the case may be packed by first opening the lid and releasing the catches 56 and moving the skirt folding rack 28 to a horizontal position such as that in which it is illustrated in Fig. 1. The dress bar rack 40 is then removed after spreading apart the spring arms 42.

The longer garments are placed upon the hangers 22. These hangers it may be noted, may 'be removed from their supporting bracket 26 in vjorder to enable the garments more readily to be placed thereon. When the hangers have been properly inserted into the garments the hangers imay be replaced upon the supporting bracket 26. At this time the garments lie upon and extend beyond the free end of the now substantially horizontal skirt folding rack.

The dress bar rack 40 without the hanger 42 is next placed in position upon the skirt folding rack. This is easily accomplished simply by using ,the bar rack as a means of forcing the spring arms 42 apart until the latter snap in place. The dress bar rack holds the garments near the inside of the lid and upon the top of the skirt j folding rack as indicated in Figure 3, where the 5 longer garments are indicated by reference character 58. r

The shorter garments may now be placed upon one or more of the hangers 42 and the latter may then be secured to the dress bar rack. The i position of the shorter garments is illustrated by reference character 60. Thus both the longer and :shorter garments extend beyond the end cross :piece 38 of the folding rack so that when the latter is moved upwardly, the garments are all carried with it and held in place. The skirt folding rack is secured in place relative to the lid by j the catches 56.

Both the longer and shorter garments are now properly held relative to the lid so that other material may be placed in the bottom section. A

' curtain 62 may be used to separate and protect the garments attached to the hangers.

From the foregoing detailed description of the -"present invention, it may be noted that a case constructed in accordance with the present in- F 'vention is capable of readily and properly holding both longer and shorter garments. While only a single embodiment of the invention has been illus--v 11. ing thus described my invention. what 1*" claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a luggage case of the type having two confronting rectangular box-like sections forming the lid and body sections of the case, the lid section being hinged along an edge of one of its sides to the body section, a plurality of means for simultaneously supporting both long and short garments in folded condition on the lid section so that the outside folds thereof extend downwardly from that side of the lid section opposite to said hinged side, said means comprising a garment folding rack pivotally mounted at one end within said luggage case adjacent said hinged side, said rack having a first fold bar across an end opposite to said pivoted end, a first hanger means for hanging garments from said opposite side of said lid section so that said garments extend down onto an upper side of said rack, a second fold bar detachably mounted on and across the hinged end of said rack to cause a first fold in garments supported by said first hanger means, free ends of the garments supported by said first hanger means being foldable a second time over the first fold bar so as to drape down over an underside of said rack as the latter is pivoted toward the lid section, supporting means on said second fold bar, and a second hanger means detachably mounted on said supporting means for supporting shorter garments which require only a single fold over the first fold bar of said rack.

2. In a luggage case of the type having lid and body sections of the case, the lid section being hinged along an edge of one of its sides to the body section, a plurality of means for simultaneously supporting both long and short garments in folded condition on the lid section so that the outside folds thereof extend downwardly from that side of the lid section opposite to said hingedside, said means comprising a garment folding rack pivotally mounted at one end within said luggage case adjacent said hinged side, a first hanger means for hanging garments from said opposite side of said lid section so that said garments extend down onto an upper side of said rack, a garment fold bar detachably mounted on and across the hinged end of said rack to cause a first fold in garments supported by said first hanger means, free ends of the garments sup- I ported by said first hanger means being foldable a second time over the free edge of said rack so as to drape down over an underside of said rack as the latter is pivoted toward the lid sec-- 7, tion, supporting means on said second fold bar,

and a second hanger means detachably mounted on said supporting means for supporting shorter garments which require only a single fold over said rack.

3. In a luggage case of the type having confronting first and second sections that are hinged along the edges of adjacent sides, a plurality of means for simultaneously supporting both long and short garments in folded condition on one of said sections so that the outside folds thereof extend downwardly from that side of said section opposite to said hinged side, said means comprising a garment folding rack pivotally mounted at one end within saidrluggage case adjacent said hinged side, a first hanger means for hanging garments from said opposite side of said first secj tion so that said garments extend down onto one side of said rack, a garment fold bar detachably mounted in said case to cause a first fold in garments supported by said first hanger means, free ends of the garments supported by said first hanger; means being foldable a seccnd time over said rack so as to drape down clver the opposite side of said-rack as the latter is'pivoted toward the first section, and a second; hanger means mounted on said fold bar for supporting shorter garments which require only a single fold over said rack.

BENJAMIN PLATT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

mb r 1,3 3, 9 ,447 1 ,esggeov 1,960,480 2,015,966 2,148,244 2,158,986 2,207,026 

